NASA Aims to Ease Doubts Over Private Space Taxis

August 30, 2010 at 8:14 am | Posted in Space Law Current Events | Leave a comment

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

WASHINGTON — NASA is reassuring commercial space firms that it will be a supportive customer for privately built space taxis even as it cautions that Congress could stymie efforts to foster development of such vehicles.

During an Aug. 19 industry event at NASA headquarters here, agency officials said 35 companies had responded to a May 21 NASA solicitation seeking input on the fledgling commercial crew initiative that U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed for a $5.8 billion investment over the next five years.

“We believe that we can fund up to four providers with that $5.8 billion,” Phil McAlister, NASA’s commercial crew planning lead, told an audience of mostly space industry executives and advocates attending the forum. “This is going to be a challenging program for both NASA and the private sector, and if somebody stumbles along the way we would like to have other providers that hopefully we can rely on.” [6 Companies That Could Launch Humans Into Space]…more